“Art is theft” - Pablo Picasso
In his wonderful little book “Steal Like An Artist”, Austin Kleon describes how to do just that and why stealing is an essential part of the creative process. It feels like the time has come to confess to some of my thefts. I’d like to think that most of my stealing has been good theft - that which honors the source and is transformative not duplicative. Good theft requires a bit more effort than bad theft.
I encountered April Gornik’s work (https://www.aprilgornik.com/) when I was reconnecting with my own art after decades of letting my passion for viewing the earth from altitude and the general business of life get in the way of my painting. She describes herself as, “A painter of un-peopled landscapes” and uses Photoshop extensively as a digital sketch pad to develop her large format paintings. All of this seemed like a good idea, so I stole it. I have a long way to go in developing my own Photoshop skillset, but it is proving to be worth the effort. Coincidentally and not related to my theft, we both grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland Ohio.
I mentioned William Garnett’s aerial photography in an earlier blog. I only recently became aware of his work, so I haven’t the opportunity to steal much from him – so far. His use of an aerial point of view is close enough to mine that I need to study it a little more to figure out a way to effectively steal some of it.
Luminism is a style of landscape painting popular in the late 19th century that, depending on one’s point of view, is either associated with or stolen from the Hudson River School of painting. Although I don’t share their attention to detail, I’m continuously trying to steal bits and pieces of how the Luminists used tone and light.
Closer to home, fellow Arthouse artist Dianne Poinski (https://www.dpoinski.com) has patiently explained to me how she mounts her photographs on plywood panels and paints on them with encaustic. She has told me that she isn’t a painter, but her work sure looks like painting to me, and I admire it. So, I stole her process using acrylic paint instead of hot wax. The combination of digital and physical brushwork serves as a development path for me that leads to where I need to go with large format canvas painting.
Meanwhile, In My Studio
‘Batch processing’ sounds like a term that might be applied to manufacturing or perhaps software utilization. None the less, I’m in the midst of some batch processing in my studio. I have several digitally modified composite images from my iPhone that I’ve printed and mounted on plywood panels (Thank you Dianne). I’m currently painting on the panels and am finding it productive to work on them all at once. What happens on one panel informs what I can do with another. In that regard it is kind of synergistic. I plan to show the panels in whatever stage of completion they happen to be at ARTHOUSE (1021 R Street, Sac.) for Second Saturday, January 13 from 5 to 8pm. Come take a look. Comments are welcome and it is possible that any advice offered might be heeded. Hopefully it will soon be time to start on the final stage – painting on large format canvas. This final stage will have to be done one at a time because I don’t have room in my studio to accommodate four or five large canvases. It looks like I have the next several months work laid out ahead of me. That feels good and somewhat challenging at the same time.